Clemson scores 13 straight points after lengthy weather delay to get a 28-20 win over North Carolina

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Apparently, all Clemson needed was a lengthy weather delay.

The Tigers took their first lead of the game with 5:01 to go on a Gideon Davidson touchdown run and then stopped North Carolina on downs for a 28-20 victory on Saturday. The game was stopped for over two hours with 8:01 remaining in the fourth quarter because of an approaching thunderstorm.

After Davidson scored, North Carolina had plenty of time for a potential game-winning field goal. But as the Tar Heels decided to go for it on fourth down just after the two-minute warning, the call was for a play-action pass.

Nothing was open. Billy Edwards held onto the ball before trying an improbable deep shot that fell incomplete.

After Clemson QB Tait Reynolds got a first down with his feet, the Tigers were in a position to run out the clock. But North Carolina and coach Bill Belichick might have let Tyler Brown run for a 34-yard TD with a minute to go. Just look at the way that North Carolina's defenders pursued the ball.

And to be clear, letting Clemson score wasn't the worst decision. The Clemson TD gave North Carolina much more time, even if the margin went from one point to eight. However, the Tar Heels didn't come close to a touchdown on their final drive as Elliot Washington picked off Edwards.

North Carolina was by far the better team in the first half as Reynolds looked very much like a freshman quarterback making the first start of his career.

He was much better in the second half.

"Man, I just love my team. They got down 17-3 and they never quit and kept battling and that's what football is," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN after the game. "I told them [during the storm delay] we got eight minutes. Don't worry about anything that's happened, let's just play this play. Let's go win second down, let's win third down. Let's go score. And they grew up.

"How about this quarterback? He was pretty bad in the first half. And missed a couple of things in the second. But man, what a competitor. You saw a kid grow up tonight. He's going to be a problem for a long time and he ain't gonna do nothing but get better."

Reynolds finished 20-of-29 passing for 215 yards and a TD and an interception while rushing for 26 yards.

It's a massive win for the Tigers after their Week 1 demolition in LSU and an ugly 22-7 win over Georgia Southern in Week 2. Reynolds got most of the playing time against GSU after starter Christopher Vizzina left with an elbow injury.

But he didn't lead Clemson on a TD drive until Christian Bentancur scored on a 27-yard catch late in the third quarter.

Reynolds entered the season as Clemson's QB of the future. And he's clearly now going to be the Tigers' QB of the present.

North Carolina, meanwhile, was in neutral for much of the second half. The Tar Heels ran 36 offensive plays in the second half and gained just 149 yards. The Tar Heels' only scoring drive needed 12 plays to go 60 yards and ended in that field goal shortly after the storm delay in a goal-to-go situation.

The Tar Heels still haven't won at Clemson since 2001 and are now 2-1 ahead of an off week and a game against No. 3 Notre Dame in Week 5.

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